Betrayal
by C.F.RATT
Summary: Koga is a student of The Complex. Trained to be a skilled warrior with both the Keyblade and magic, he falls short of the expectations placed upon him as he lacks the ability to wield a Keyblade. This all changes once a force of darkness shows up at the complex. With new found access to his Keyblade, he sets off on a quest to find his mother.
1. Darkness Seeps Through the Walls

**This is a story I've been working on very erratically. It takes a lot of base things from the Kingdom Hearts series but this is more of a semi-original story with certain concepts from the series than a true fanfic. All characters are original and there is no reference to any of the games except keyblades, and maybe some worlds. Be prepared for certain things, and how they work in the games to be skewed and different from original source material. This is largely my own story with things ripped from the game just to get my creative juices flowing. Hopefully you enjoy this little taste of the story and continue to read whenever I update.**

* * *

 _Darkness. That's all I could see, unwavering darkness._

 _The sound from the clash of blades._

 _A thousand white pillars make up the landscape._

 _Two people in black cloaks fought, both very skilled._

 _One held a white Keyblade. Average length with an attribute to it that stood out as pure to me. A black ribbon wrapped around the middle of three prongs at the top down to the bottom of the weapon. The long ribbon hung off and danced in the background of blade strokes. The lack of guard complimented the sleekness of the weapon._

 _The other held a long, black, ferocious looking Keyblade. It had what looked to me to be a blue eye at the top. The whole weapon looked like it was modeled after a ram of sorts. The chain that hung off had a blue butterfly at the end of it._

 _The two cloaked figures fought like lightning, If I was looking through my own eyes I could probably barely keep up. I wasn't though, I was some sort of… omniscient being. The warriors continued to clash. The figure with the primarily white Keyblade was agile, switching between backhanded and forward with a precise flow, no switch felt out of place._

 _The other figure though, his style seemed lazy, but effective. Efficient is the word I'm looking for, but, he also had an aura to him, something… dark. The two wielders clashed for a final time._

I woke up in a startled manner. No sound came from the final impact of the blades but I felt as if symbols were just smashed together right next to my ear. I could feel sweat all over my body, almost drenched. I looked over to my alarm clock and realized I should probably start getting ready. I got up, after about twenty minutes of deciding if I would or not, and went over to my closet. Picking out what I would wear with a blank expression of grogginess on my face. Once I was dressed in some denim, and a black t-shirt, I looked in the mirror to decide what should be done with my hair. Light brown and fairly long on top, with short sides, I decided to throw on a hat to keep my hair out of my eyes. I then decided to do some stretching and some simple warm ups in order to wake up. I grabbed my wooden sword and made my way to the dining hall in order to get breakfast once I was ready.

Me, and the rest of the people here, live in a giant japanese inspired complex of a main building and other smaller ones scattered all around. All of the buildings had a warm color palette to them. The large main building held the student's dorms, the cafeteria, and other essential facilities, and most of the smaller buildings were used as individual meeting halls for students and their designated masters. The rest belonged to adults that had already graduated or had taken jobs in other areas.

Everyone here is a Keyblade wielder of some sort or related to one at the very least. Everyone is given jobs once they graduate to manage different things like the kitchens, cleaning the bathrooms, etc. Some had special jobs though. Others were sent to different worlds to 'snuff out darkness' and 'breed light' at least, that's what I was told in class. I'm currently seventeen. My birthday was a week or two ago, and now it's just the waiting game till I'm eighteen and can be assigned to that role. I've been training my whole life to go out and adventure, of course I could be rejected and given a guard position, but i've been working my ass off ever since I could remember in order to be something a bit more. I used to be recognized as part of the top tier of students, personally I'd consider myself number one, but that title has since been passed on as I still can't summon my own Keyblade.

Masters have told me, indirectly of course, that I am too old at this point and I shouldn't expect to be able to wield. They go on and on about my mothers prowess, they used to see that in me but, that has since diminished. I've been reassured that there are other weapons that can be crafted to fight the darkness, though I'm disappointed and I'm sure my mom would be too if she was here, I take comfort in the fact that my hope of adventure and fighting the darkness is still fully in tact.

After finishing breakfast I arrive at Master Rhine's training room. I see him meditating on the floor in his usual brown robes. Respectfully I wait for him to finish, but, sensing that I was there he didn't take too long to get up.

"Have you done your warm ups?" he asked with his usual friendly tone. Rhine was never very serious, unlike the other Masters, he took a more light hearted approach to things.

"Yes sir." I replied, "Made sure to do them cause I was hoping for a little spar. Ya know, get the juices flowing and all."

Master Rhine just shook his head and laughed a bit, "This early in the morning?" he asked, I just nodded my head. "Okay then, I only have time for one though, then I have something to attend to."

"Scared you'll lose?" I asked him in a sarcastic way,

he just laughed a bit, "You wish." He replied in a confident tone.

I held my wooden sword with two hands in front of me in the traditional stance, left foot forward, sword centered, head tilted down slightly. Master Rhine did the same but with one of the standard wooden swords. What made my sword a bit different was that it was lighter, shorter, and more agile than the normal ones. It suited my fighting style more, at least when I wasn't using a traditional stance. Everything was silent, it felt as if I could hear his heartbeat. Both our right feet stepped forward as quick successions of diagonal attacks ensued. Sure thought plays a role in battle but, muscle memory takes center stage, I could feel my body heat up as we fought, adrenaline was pumping and attacks were more confident. Getting to involved in offense Rhine quickly took the chance to wrap his sword around mine and deflect it away from him, at the same time sliding what would be the blade edge up to my neck. He had won the Spar.

"Damn" I whispered to myself as Rhine pulled the wooden sword away,

"You know offense isn't everything Koga." He said in his usual manner, "You've got to play defense sometimes, it's not about how many hits you can get in."

"I know, but they do say say offense is the best defense right?" I replied with a slight chuckle,

"You take that too seriously. Now go. Find a sparring partner or something, I have to go speak with someone."

I bowed and replied with a "Will do." as I left the room.

Outside the Training Hall, was mainly a large concrete area with multiple small, wooden, and matted squares. These being the sparring mats everyone used when they weren't training with their designated Master. There were also wooden and straw dummies lined up along the outside of the Training Hall, along with a few other necessities.

I saw my friend Enzo sitting on the ground staring up at the sky by himself. His hair was styled basically the same as mine, but a bit shorter and a dark brown. He was a couple inches taller than me, though it wasn't a huge deal as both of us were still considered short. I was about 5'7, and he was 5'8 or 5'9.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, he jumped a bit, must have been spacing out.

"Oh my god you scared the shit out of me." He said with a deep exhale,

"Wanna spar?" I asked him,

"This early?" he replied, with something i've now heard for the second time today.

"Why does everyone think I'm crazy for that?"

"You're not." he said with a laugh as he got up, "well maybe a little… so, which mat are we going for?" he asked dusting himself off from the ground.

As we both looked around I spotted a girl sparring, with what was basically a line waiting for them to finish, It was Kiera. She adopted the imaginary title of 'Number One Apprentice' after me.

"As far away from that mat as possible" I said as I pointed to the mat Kiera was on.

"What? Problem between lovers?" Enzo said sarcastically with a big grin on his face.

"No En." I replied as I laughed and started to make my way to the mat on the opposite side from her.

Kiera hated me, I wouldn't say her reason was very justified but at least she had one right? Me and Keira have sparred a few times and not once could she win. It was always a tie or me coming out on top. I guess pride might be the reason she hates me. I know she isn't a bad person but on the outside she is definitely a stuck up bitch, at least to me. To everyone else she seems pretty nice, I mean all the younger kids have a fat crush on her. It's not hard to see, the average height brunette was very attractive, she had bangs and her hair was almost always in a ponytail, her blue eyes also complemented her very well.

Suddenly Enzo's arm was around me, "Well looks like you got her attention" Enzo whispered. I looked at him confused as he took his arm off me, it suddenly hit me that I had been staring at Kiera. As Kiera walked over Enzo had a big smile on his face and waved. She smiled slightly at him and then looked at me with a straight face. I put a big fake smile on, as is the usual fashion when we interact.

"Can you stop staring, you're putting me off." she said in a stern tone.

As I went to apologize and tell her I was just spacing out, Enzo went and opened his big, stupid mouth, "Maybe you should stop noticing him, I know he's a cutie and all but it shouldn't affect you that much."

She looked at me again and told me, with slight irritation in her voice, but also with signs of a chuckle she didn't want to slip out, "Tell your boyfriend to keep his mouth shut, he's annoying."

"For sure." I replied with a smile as I hit Enzo in the back of the head with my hand. Kiera just let out a heavy sigh, turned around, and walked back to her mat.

"She has a very nice posterior." Enzo said as I walked to one side of the mat we were on.

I let out a laugh then got in my regular, non-formal, stance. Left foot forward, knees bent, right arm with sword in hand behind me and flared out, left arm in front of me.

"Just get ready to spar." I said as I shook my head with disappointment and a smile on my face. Enzo laughed a bit and went to grab a wooden sword,

"It's fine, use your Keyblade" I told him,

"You sure?" he replied.

I nodded my head and he got into his usual one handed stance on the other side. His stance wasn't as low as mine but it was pretty similar. He summoned his Keyblade. It was an average length, but it was definitely unique. The blade was the shape and color of fire. The end curled into a fireball and the charm at the end of the chain was even a flame. We locked eyes and focused. No matter how silly he and I may seem, battle was where we put all of ourselves in.

We launched forward and our weapons met in the middle, each at a slant. Our weapons quickly slid apart and hit again, positions were switched this time. I went into an overhead strike with both hands on the hilt of my sword, my weapon bounced off and I flipped the sword to backhand. I then swiped up, causing Enzo to dodge backwards, I switched my sword back to facing forward, I could tell Enzo was about to go for an overhead strike so I put my sword up and it made contact with his, I then slid my weapon forward causing me to now be at his side.

He let out a small yelp and then turned around getting back in his stance. "One to zero, are we going to three?" I asked him,

"You know it." he said happily.

I got back in my stance and our eyes met. I launched with a one-handed upward slash. Enzo countered it.

"Point." he said with a smile,

"You got lucky." I said with a laugh as we got back into our stances.

This time my sword was in my left hand though. For some reason, though I'm right handed, switching between forward and backhand was easier in my left.

I launched going straight into a flurry of strikes, Enzo dodged them but I could tell it was difficult. The sweat beading off his face told me that much. Finally I jumped back and got into my stance again, still with sword in left hand. We both jumped forward.

"Point." I said in the same fashion he had,

"Shutup." he replied childishly, blending the words together.

The score was two to one, I just needed one more point. We both got back into our positions and re-focused.

I once again launched forward, this time with an overhead attack. He blocked but somehow I went through his block. I pushed my sword forward almost hitting him but sparing him the sting of an attack. I pulled away and looked at him with a proud smile. I was confused as I saw his face was more serious than usual,

"Sorry man." he said as he rubbed the back of his head and his Keyblade dissipated.

"What do you me-" he pointed to the ground where half my sword was laying, "Oh…" I said as it clicked in my brain.

"I didn't mean to." he said as he picked up the half of my sword,

"No problem." I replied in a reassuring way, "I swung to hard probably, not your fault". He handed me the other half of my wooden sword, "I'll just get another one made, can't be that hard".

As I finished my sentence I heard an explosion, it was at the part of the wall around the complex directly in front of us. Anti started to come over the wall, and the sky got dark. Everyone including Enzo summoned their Keyblades and got in fighting stances.

"Go get Master Rhine!" Enzo shouted at me,

"But I have to hel-"

"You don't have a Keyblade Koga!" I was cut off by Enzo, he was the most serious I had ever seen him, he was right though.

I threw my broken sword on the ground and picked up one of the heavier wooden sword on the rack. As I ran to the training room Master Rhine was usually in, Heartless formed in front of me. I couldn't kill them. One by one they would jump and latch on the the sword, I made sure to throw them off the sword as far away as possible, I needed to get Rhine. I finally got to the door of the training room and entered it, the room was dimly lit by the covered up sun outside. I saw a tall man in the front of the room where Master Rhine usually meditated, then I heard a loud crackling noise. The man turned and I saw briefly the body of Master Rhine frozen.

"Who are you!? What did you do to Master Rhine!?" I shouted at the man as I got into a fighting stance, he just kept looking at me... but eventually he smiled, an evil smile.

"Tyra's boy huh? I know you…" he muttered just loud enough for me to hear. Then he spoke up, "The most promising young pupil, and he can't even summon a Keyblade. It's funny really… now you've been shoved to the back of everyone's mind as a failure. Does it bother you?" he just looked at me with the same smile,

"Shut up! Now what did you do to Master Rhine" I shouted back as I gripped the wooden sword.

"You wanna play hmm?" the man said bored as he manifested his Keybladel.

I've seen that blade, I just couldn't find where. It was long, black, "Ferocious…" was the word that popped into my head. I knew it… my dream.

"You've seen this before haven't you?" he asked as if he could read my mind,

"How'd you know?" I replied angrily.

"Don't know." he said quickly with a shoulder shrug. He still never got into a fighting stance, he just stood there lazily holding his Keyblade.

I decided to make the first move. I struck horizontally, and he blocked it, instantly breaking the wooden sword, "Figures…" I muttered as I jumped back grabbing another sword off the rack.

All I can do is hold him off until a Master or just a Keyblade wielder in general gets here, I swung at him again, the wooden sword performing the same as last time. I repeated the process of breaking wooden swords a few more times, throughout the whole one-sided fight the man just had a bored expression on his face and my heartbeat sped up.

"I thought this would be a bit more interesting…" the man said with a sigh before suddenly appearing behind me and launching me into a wall across the room.

I sat up slightly, my back against the wall. My whole body ached from just one blow, what was this? The man walked over and put the end of his Keyblade in the center of my chest, causing a yelp of pain to come from me. It felt as if my soul was being sucked out of my body. As he held me against the wall with his weapon, I slowly, and shakily, brought my hands up to his blade grabbing its length and trying with all the strength I could muster to push it off of me. It left my body slightly before smashing back into my chest with more force than it had before.

"You have a strong will it seems." the man said with a slight smile, "Now let's bring that magnificent thing out, shall we?" He pulled his Keyblade off my chest a tiny bit, the pressure felt like it was still there. I saw half of a white orb start to come out of my chest before my vision was engulfed in black.

I awoke on a large circular pillar, it was blindingly white, everything else was pitch black. As I stood up I noticed there was a crack from the outside to the center, it wasn't gigantic but definitely noticeable. I walked over to it and bent down, I started to rub the crack but I stopped as I heard a noise. I turned my head to see three items floating in the air. A sword, shield, and staff. Suddenly I was given instructions, there was no voice but I felt as if a force was telling me to do something,

 _Choose wisely_

Naturally I walked over to the sword and grabbed it.

 _Is strength important?_

I nodded as all the other items dissipated and a loud noise came from behind me. I turned around to see Heartless crawling out of the crack in the pillar. Suddenly, a Keyblade manifested in my hand where the sword was. The Keyblade was on the shorter side, skinny, and completely white. There was no chain or guard. The only thing that made it stand out a little were the two prongs at the end, also white. While admiring the weapon 3-4 Heartless began to crawl out of the crack in the pillar. I got in my stance and quickly destroyed them.

 _Your destiny has already been decided. Defeat the darkness, save the key._

I wasn't sure what that meant, but it was the last thing I heard/felt before my vision was engulfed in white.

My eyes opened and I seemed to be in an all white room, as I sat up I realized I was in the complex's infirmary. "Some dream.." I muttered, suddenly realizing what it was about. I learned about this when I was younger. It's called a 'Deep Dive to The Heart' wielders apparently experience it right before they obtain their Keyblade. Some think it's fate contacting you, others think it's just some crazy dream brought on by the creation of your Keyblade. I'm not sure what I believe. A light flashed in front of me and my Keyblade took form. I was confused, what did that guy do to me that I couldn't do myself? I felt ashamed, I should be happy but, I was the opposite… In the middle of my thoughts I heard the door start to open, I quickly made my blade disappear and put my hand down.

"You're finally awake!" Enzo yelled in excitement, while he gave me a hug,

"Yeah I guess" I replied with a chuckle. I followed up by asking how long I was out,

"About five days, I mean everyone was worried. Even Kiera was bothered by it."

"Huh surprising…" I said as I remembered what happened, "Wait how is Master Rhine!?"

Enzo just shook his head slightly. "Him and a few other Masters were frozen, they all apparently thawed out about a day ago. The doctors say they are all still alive, just, in a weird coma."

"I guess that's better than what it could be…" I muttered, "What about the Heartless?"

Enzo just shrugged, "They weren't really a match for us. Headmaster Waelus said he thinks they were a distraction, and I mean, he's probably right."

I looked down with a bit of disappointed, I wish I was there to help but instead I just got knocked out with no effort.

"Anyways, moving on from the depressing stuff… I have a gift for you. It's in my room though so you're gonna have to get checked out." Enzo said in an excited tone.

"Okay then." I replied as I got up from the bed.

I started for the door and walked out, Enzo following behind me. I reached the counter and spoke to the girl working there, she gave me the paperwork in order to get discharged, I signed it and was on my way. Once me and Enzo made it to the side of the complex where the dorms for students are, we went straight to his dorm. It was messy as always, clothes strewn everywhere, food wrappers and cans all over his desk,

"So what did you need to give me?" I asked.

"Give me a sec." he said as he rummaged through his closet, "This". Enzo hands me a sword in a sheathe, a book, and a letter.

I unsheathed the sword to find that it was real, "Woah…" I said amazed as the lights in the room reflected off of it.

"It's from the headmaster, he said it's enchanted so it can kill Heartless. I assume he wanted you to have it cause I told him I broke your sparring sword." Continuing to stare at the blade Enzo told me more, "There's a note there he told me not to read so it must be important."

I nodded my head and re-sheathed the sword.

"Another thing about the sword," Enzo went on, "The sheathe is also enchanted, so you can just make it disappear whenever you need."

I nodded my head in excitement, I couldn't wait to try it out. I figured the note was a bit more important though, so I put the sword down and went to read it:

 _Dear Koga,_

 _Once you are reading this you should be on your way to a full recovery. There are things I wanted to tell you in person, but, there are matters I must attend to in other worlds regarding the last attack. I'm not going to draw this letter out so i'll give it to you straight and simple: When the attack happened I felt an overwhelming presence, that of darkness. I'm not sure who it was but I am hoping to find out soon, besides this presence I felt one other. Before the attack happened I felt the faint presence of your mother. I do not know what feelings you harbour for her, but, if you wish to seek her out I cannot stop you._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Headmaster Waelus_

I was surprised to say the least. My mom left me as a child in the care of Master Rhine. I was too young to really have any feelings about it, and even now I have no real negative emotions towards it. I do know one thing though, I'm curious by nature, and finding my mom seems very… interesting to say the least. Other than that Waelus seems to be setting me up for leaving rather than telling me not to.


	2. Motivation

"So what does the note say?" Enzo asked as he saw my expression get a bit more serious,

"It's about my mom… apparently I have permission to go look for her."

Enzo looked at me confused, "Isn't she like, dead or something?" he asked,

"No, she just left when I was a baby. Headmaster Waelus said he 'felt her presence' or something like that the day of the attack."

"Oh… so how are you supposed to find her, let alone get off this world?" Enzo asked.

I held up the book to his face, it read: _Portals of Light and Other Forms of Magical Transportation_

Enzo just nodded his head, "So are you gonna do it?"

I put my hand on the back of my neck and rubbed it, honestly I didn't know what I should do. "Most likely." I said in an unsure voice,

Enzo just looked at me quizzically before speaking, "Are you gonna tell Mercie?"

"Why would I?" I asked him,

he looked at me with an 'are you dumb?' kinda face, "Why wouldn't you?"

"I guess you're right…" I replied slowly, "I'm not leaving right away though so it's not a big deal."

"You better not be leaving yet." Enzo said, "There are still things we need to do before you set off."

I looked at him with my face scrunched up in confusion, "What do you mean 'things we have to do'?"

Enzo walked over to me and put his hands on my shoulders, he looked ready to tell me what we needed to do.

The hall between the dorms and the cafeteria was pretty big, not that long of a walk but when you're hungry it was quite a venture. At this time of day no one was really going to the cafeteria, but, seeing as I hadn't had real food in five days I was pretty hungry to say the least. As I walked down the hall and looked at the tall pillars on my right side, essentially spacing out, I kept to the side of the wall where doors opened. Looking back at this decision it wasn't very smart, but that's in hindsight and all. As I moved forward in a daze I was suddenly broken out of it by a door slamming into my face, I cried in pain and held my nose like it would stop the pain, it didn't. The girl that hit me with the door moved out from behind it and looked at me angrily and closed the door, it just so happened to be Kiera.

"Why are you looking at me like that, you're the one that just slammed my face with the door!?" I said with both confusion and irritation in my voice.

"I'm not angry with you Odanari. It's a whole different matter altogether." Kiera stated in an angry voice.

She liked to call me by my last name for some reason, I never really put the pieces together on that one. "Then what's your deal then?" I asked as I pulled my hand away from my nose, the pain finally subsiding.

"That's none of your business." she stated firmly, her composure back to normal, "Your nose is bleeding by the way."

I put my hand up to my nose and pulled it away only to see blood on it, "Fuck!" I said a bit loud as I started to run to the nearest bathroom. Kiera grabbed my arm before I got far, "What! Can't you see I'm bleeding!?" she let go of my arm and brought a handkerchief out from behind her, handing it to me as my expression changed, "Oh…" I said dumly feeling like a dick head, "Thanks." I put the cloth to my nose and it stopped the bleeding from going everywhere,

"I won't want that back after your bloods been on it so just keep it." Kiera said as she turned to start walking away, quickly I grabbed her wrist with my free hand and she turned to stare at me in confusion.

"Are you hungry?" Kiera looked at me surprised not really knowing what to say, "I'll buy."

She pulled her wrist away from my grasp and looked at me weirdly for a second, "Sure…?" she replied in a long exaggerated way.

As we walked to the cafeteria together it was less like together and more like, I'm Kiera and I'm gonna walk a few feet behind you because I don't like you. I slowed down a bit in order to walk closer to Kiera as this situation kinda felt weird, not to my surprise she slowed down a bit to keep her distance, "What is wrong with this girl, what did I do!?" I thought about the answer on our way to the cafeteria. It was basically a big room with a hundred or so empty tables, the only ones that were filled were by small cliques having conversations. "Pick a table and I'll get our food." I told Kiera, "What do you want?"

The girl just looked at me and said, "Nothing."

I was confused by her answer but instead of drilling her for her reason I just left it at that.

After I got our food I approached the table Kiera had picked only to see her wiping her eyes for a second, I presumed she was crying. "I got two burgers in case you wanted one."

Kiera jerked up and blinked hard a few times, "I said I wasn't hungry." she replied in a melancholy tone, first time I've ever heard something like that come out of her,

"I know, but I assumed you wouldn't have taken up the offer if you weren't". The brunette looked at me and shrugged her shoulders slightly as she reached for the burger and began to take a small bite. We sat in silence just eating for a while, the only sounds made were the few other groups leaving and whispering. Eventually Kiera put her burger down and sat there with her elbows on the table and her hands on her head, fingers going through her hair.

"What's got you acting so… different…?" I asked with food in my mouth,

"You should chew before you talk." she said before grabbing the water I got her and taking a drink.

I swallowed and repeated the same question as before,

"Why do you care..? It's not like we're friends or anything." Kiera replied,

"Well… I heard you were upset at me being in a coma and I thought to myself 'wow, that is so out of character…' so I thought I'd turn over a new leaf aswell". The girl looked at me embarrassed with a slight blush on her face before shaking it off,

"Fine. If you must know, I just got rejected from taking the mark of mastery exam early."

I looked her way quizzically, "Why would you wanna do that?" I inquired,

"Because I wanna get out of this place." I was surprised to hear that from her,

"I thought you liked it here?"

"And why would you think that?" she said with a bit of irritation, "We have never had a real conversation until now, barely now if I add."

I guess she was right, I had no real reason to say that, "I don't know why."

Kiera just shook her head at me with real anger for once, "So why do you wanna leave so bad then?" I asked.

The girl looked around the room before answering, "To find my father."

That answer struck a chord with me, maybe we had some things in common after all… I nodded to her answer and we finished our food silently. "Will you come to my room with me?" I asked Kiera,

she looked stunned, "Why are you asking me to do that?"

"Trust me nothing is gonna happen" I replied with a chuckle and a smirk on my face.

Kiera finally agreed and we made our way out the cafeteria and down the hall to the dorms. The walk there was a little more comfortable this time, there was still dead silence, but we walked side by side at least. Once we got to my dorm I opened it up with my key and walked inside, Kiera stayed outside hesitant to come in,

"It's fine." I said dramatically, this caused her to sigh and enter the room.

I walked behind her and shut the door as she gave me a weird look, and then went to dig around in my closet finding the note and the book given to me by Master Waelus. "Read this." I told Kiera as she accepted the note. As she scanned the note her expression changed to a more… frustrated one? "What's wrong?" I asked confused,

"He'll give you permission to leave and not me!?" she fired back as she threw the note to the side and placed her hands on her hips.

"He is giving me permission to leave not to take the exam early." she looked at me annoyed, probably because of my smart ass answer, "anyways, I don't think you are seeing the big picture here..." she looked at me with the same level of annoyance, "I can take you with me… or atleast get you off this world." I took the book from my right hand and showed it to her with my left,

"Portals of light and other forms of…" she trailed off as she looked me in the eyes.

We sat in complete silence for a while, her eyes not meeting mine, I guess she was trying to process what the book meant. Finally she looked up at me, after a few seconds of staring at me she hugged me, I sat there stunned for a bit not sure of what was happening before I finally wrapped my arms around her,

"Thank you… thank you so much…" she let out,

"Um… sure...?" I replied.

I stood there confused for awhile as we embraced each other. Finally we stopped hugging and Kiera looked at me with a smile, "I don't think you know what this means Koga, I can find my father, I-I can.." her sentence was cut short as she started to tear up a bit, even though she seemed awfully excited.

"Why don't you sit down?" I told her with a chuckle, "I've never seen someone so happy cry." I finished with a laugh, she looked at me with a smile through her tears as she sat down.

"I guess I'm pretty weird huh?" Kiera said more to herself than me. I never really thought about how different someone could be from how you see them on the outside… Kiera and I sat talking in my room for an hour or so, both finding out about the other more and more, though, the subject of our parents was never brought up, which I guess was a good thing. As conversation died I could see Kiera struggling to keep her eyes open,

"Tired?" I asked,

"Very." She replied with a yawn as she fell back onto my bed.

"Well you can stay here for the night, if you want. I won't be here cause I have plans with some friends." Kiera looked at me with a slightly uncomfortable look, "I'm just offering since your room is at the other side of the complex…" I trailed off,

"How do you know where my room is?" she asked quickly as she jerked up.

I stood there for a second before going to my closet and getting my jacket, "I just know things okay?"

Kiera looked at me with an eyebrow raised before lying back on my bed, "Then i'll take you up on your offer as long as you aren't lying to me about where you'll be."

"I won't be here trust me." I said with a long sigh,

Kiera chuckled as she turned onto her side, "Bye then." she said with a yawn.

* * *

"What am I doing!?" I said loudly as I smashed my head into Koga's pillow. I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the ceiling, We just became friends and I'm staying at his place by myself, this is weird right? I shifted positions in his bed and sat on the edge for a while thinking about the situation before getting up. I walked over to his closet and pulled the book on portals out from it, "Might as well learn something while I'm here." I said aloud to myself while wiping the grogginess from my face. I opened the book while wiping my face to be greeted by pictures of what seemed to be Koga when he was younger, confused, I kept looking. I saw pictures of him and Enzo, along with a purple haired girl. I racked my brain trying to think of who that could be… The name Mercie popped into my head. She was a girl in Koga and I's class when we were younger, she was very promising to the teachers, even more so than Koga and I but, she fell off a few years later for reasons I don't know. As I flipped through the book with endless pictures of Koga and his friends I got to the back to see a picture of a woman I hadn't seen in any others, "That must be Koga's mom". I stared at the ripped picture for a long time, I felt as if I knew her from somewhere, finally I snapped out of the trance the picture put me in and closed the book. I looked at the blank front of the book and rubbed it before putting it back in the closet. I reached in again this time actually looking at the cover,

 _Portals of Light and Other Forms of Magical Transportation._ Yup, this is the one.

I started to flip through the pages of the book, until I got to the section of forming a portal with a Keyblade. Portals of Light were apparently one of the trickiest things to learn in the way of magic, I'm sure I could do it but, I don't want it to take too long. I need to get out of this place and find my father, I can't be sitting here learning how to open some stupid portal for days on end. "A portal of light is a magical gateway that connects two places, most commonly worlds, via a bridge in spacetime." Okay that sounds really complicated, "So how do you summon one?" I asked out loud as I flipped through the pages of long detailed explanations.

After about half an hour of memorizing the procedure's detailed instructions, I put the book away and looked for some paper. I thought I'd leave a note, just to be nice.

 _Hey, thanks for letting me crash here, for some reason I couldn't sleep once you left. It was probably your talking that was putting me to sleep. Anyways , I'm thankful for your help with getting me out of here. We can talk later about leaving._

I set the note down on his bed on my way out the door.


	3. The Light of the Stars Upon the Ridge

As I closed the door to my room I got a text from Enzo asking me if I had talked to Mercie yet and when I would be there, "Not yet, I'll make it fast though prolly 15 mins." I replied before putting my phone back in my pocket. Mercie's room was about 20 rooms down from mine so it wouldn't take long to get there, but I'm sure Mercie would want to strike up conversation since, to my knowledge, she doesn't even know I've woken up. While I made my way to her room the giant curtains on my left, that were covering the windows on that side of the hall, started to open. The moon was especially bright tonight and poured into the building leaving barely any shadows. I thought this was perfect since Mercie and I would Be going to the ridge with Enzo to watch the stars. When I got to Mercie's room I went to open the door, but pulled away,

"I should probably knock huh?" I whispered to myself, "Okay, here goes." Once the first knock hit the door there was silence, a second, third, fourth, and fifth knock brought the same result. Where could she be? I decided to open the door and not to my surprise no one was home. I walked through the tidy room and looked at the walls. One wall was covered in pictures of her parents, who sadly passed away about three years ago, and the other pictures on the wall were of her, Enzo, and I since we were kids up till now. We had always been close knit. Mercie's parents took care of me when they could cause they felt bad for me being orphaned, I loved them like they were my parents as well. Suddenly, while lost in thought, I heard a gasp and the dropping of bags behind me.

"Koga!" I heard as I turned around to find myself in a hug.

"Woah, hey." I said a bit loud with a laugh, "How are you?" I asked without answer, as I was about to ask if she was okay or not she clutched my shirt tighter and started to sob into my chest. Mercie had always been pretty emotional so I wasn't very surprised. After a while we stopped hugging, she wiped the tears from her face, and we kissed. Mercie and I had been close like this for awhile but we never really discussed our feelings or put a label on ourselves.

"I didn't know you would wake up so fast, they said it shouldn't be long but I was so worried!" she said in between sobs as she just stood there looking down.

I put my hands on her shoulders and smiled, "I'm fine, why cry?" she laughed with me and responded with a smile and a nod as she wiped her tears. "Do you need help?" I asked,

"With what?" she responded as I pointed at the groceries, "Oh yeah!" she said excitedly as she picked up a couple of bags.

As we walked into her dorm, bags in hand, she turned around and asked, "So did you have a specific reason to come see me besides looking at a stunning young lady?"

I smiled and chuckled a bit, "I did actually, Enzo wants to go to the ridge."

"The ridge!?" she said it in such a surprised way I was almost scared,

"Yeah?" I replied a bit drawn out and confused. "What's the big deal?" I asked,

"Nothing… It's outside the complex though, that's forbidden for us Koga."

"I know Mercie. Look, Enzo wants to go once before I leave. You don't have to come I just wanted to ask."

Mercie looked at me for a while with a very concerned look. "You're leaving?"

"I'll fill you in on it later, trust me?" I asked trying to diffuse the situation,

"No! Why are you leaving!? Where are you going!?"

"I'll be fine Mercie. I'll fill you in on everything after we have a good time okay?" I said to reassure her as I put my hands on her shoulders. She finally calmed down after a long hug and agreed to come with.

"We're on our way En."

"Dooope, meet you outside the back then?" He responded as we talked on the phone, I agreed and waited for Mercie to change. I could hear the ruffling of shirts and scraping of hangars as she rummaged through her closet.

"Ready to go?" I asked after I turned around,

"Yeah, just gotta pack some snacks."

I started to laugh at her response, "You are just like your mom."

"Yeah I guess so…" her sentence trailed off. I forgot that she got a bit sad at the mention of her mom since she died when we were little.

"Hey I-" "It's fine Ko." she cut me off with the nickname she's had for me since we were young,

"Okay then… Ready to go?" I asked, slightly annoyed by the nickname

"Yeah I am." she replied as she kissed me on the cheek.

On our way to the west entrance, or the 'back door' as me and En call it, we saw Kiera unlocking her door. "Weren't tired enough?" I said loudly as she opened her door.

Kiera turned and looked at me a bit confused, "No I wasn't… where are you guys off to?" she asked,

"The ridge." I responded quickly, as we approached her.

"Isn't that forbidden for us?" Kiera asked with squinted eyes,

"Yeah but people go there all the time, I think it's fine." I said slyly while leaning against the wall.

Kiera eyed me for a second, turned to her door, and took a deep breathe, "I guess i'll go. I need a moment to change though, been sweating in these all day." she answered as she continued to unlock her door.

"That's fine, we'll wait for you." I said as she walked into her room and closed the door.

"Did I get teleported to another dimension or something?" Mercie asked me with a strange look,

I looked at her and chuckled a bit, "I saw her earlier and we talked about some things, we're cool now."

"Whatever you say…" Mercie replied as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Jealous or something?" I asked,

"Of course I am…" she trailed off, "You're my boy after all." she finished playfully with a big smile as she took my hand. We smiled at one another for a bit till Kiera's door opened,

"Okay, I'm ready to go." Kiera said loudly as she came out in a loose black skirt, sneakers, and a jacket.

"So… is that called a combat skirt?" I asked jokingly before being welcomed to a silence.

She brought her arm up with her hand in a gun shape. The lips that supplied her blank face motioned 'bang' and a piece of magical ice struck me in the forehead. I fell backwards with a yelp and started to rub my forehead, I looked up to see a hand held out by a laughing Mercie,

"It's really not funny, that hurt." I complained as I took her hand,

"It was pretty funny." she replied with a smile.

"So where are we meeting the other one?" Kiera asked me once I got to my feet,

"We're meeting En at the west entrance." I responded still rubbing my head,

"Well let's get going then." she said smiling before turning around fast. I had no idea why.

* * *

"Dooope, meet you outside the back then?" I asked,

"For sure." Koga responded before hanging up.

I started my walk to the west entrance, unlike Koga and Mercie my room was pretty close to it, so I decided to take my time by stopping at a vending machine and getting a bag of chips.

"Nacho cheese flavored hell yeah!" I said under my breathe while punching 'A2' into the machine, "Come to daddy!" the chips dropped to the bottom and I picked them up, hastily opening the bag to my nacho flavored goodness. As my bag ripped open I got the chills and looked up. On the top of the hill in the distance, the hill the ridge was on, I saw a figure cloaked in darkness. I couldn't make out a face or anything but I could tell whatever it was, was looking at me, "What the-" I muttered taking a step forward towards the window. I soon heard a loud crack under my feet. I looked down, "Damn, must of dropped em…" I picked up the half opened bag of chips and looked back up to find the person wasn't there anymore. I felt this weird feeling, fear but worse. More like… dread.

Deciding that I should get going, I reached my hand into the chip bag and began to eat the crumbs as I walked to the West Entrance.

As I reached the West Entrance I found that Koga, Mercie, and… Kiera? Were there waiting for me.

"What took you so damn long?" Koga asked as I approached the group,

"What do you mean I just stopped to get chips?"

Koga looked at me inquisitively, "It took you an extra fifteen minutes to get chips?"

I stood there for a second looking confused, How long had I sat there? I thought to myself before replying back to Koga, "I guess so… so, why is Kiera here?"

Kiera turned away from the window and crossed her arms, "Koga invited me, so I thought 'why not'."

I stared with squinched eyes and looked at the two of them, "So… when did y'all get all buddy buddy?" Koga didn't answer, Kiera just shrugged her shoulders, "Okay, thanks for the answer you two. So, are we ready for the ridge?" Mercie and Kiera nodded,

"Yup, I went back and got that new sword just in case." Koga answered with excitement. Something told me Koga wanted there to be Anti on the ridge.

"Well let's get going shall we?" I said as I pushed the door open,

"Wait, there's an alarm!" I heard Kiera yell as the doors swung open. Sure enough, there was an alarm, "Idiot!" Kiera yelled at me as the alarm went off and I made a break for it,

"Come on they can't catch us!" I yelled back in laughter.

As we all ran towards the wall and hopped over we heard the alarm stop and the doors close, sure enough no one came after us.

"What a rush!" Koga let out while taking deep breaths and laughing at the same time,

"We could be in a lot of trouble once we get back Enzo, what were you thinking?" Kiera questioned me,

"I think it's fine!" I replied laughing, "Besides all the fun we're gonna have tonight will make up for it." Kiera just shook her head,

"Live a little." Koga chimed in still laughing,

"Are you guys done? The ridge is still a good walk away." Mercie said already up the path ahead of us, Koga and I exchanged glances before racing up the hill.

* * *

Once the boys had ran off I started up the path and eventually caught up with Mercie, "Have they always been like that?" I asked her,

"Like what? Competitive?"

I shook my head to the response, "No, childish."

Mercie looked at me and started laughing, "I guess you could say that." she looked at me with a smile and then put her eyes back on the path, "They're more mature than you think. They just like to have fun."

"I guess so…" I thought to myself, as we walked the path winding up to the ridge. I'd never been in nature like this. The trees were dark and ominous at this time, but the way the stars and moon shone on the leaves it was hard to not find it beautiful. I could smell something I haven't been exposed to in a while, pine. It was far from an amazing smell, but it was refreshing. Made me feel like a kid again.

Mercie and I were near our destination. Before we even rounded the corner to the ridge we could hear the exclamations about the stars drift out of the boys mouths,

"Wow! Look how many you can see from here!" Mercie joined the boys in admiring the view.

They were right, it was riddled with stars. It looked as though someone poured a bucket of glitter all over the sky. I took a seat on the bench that was there and basked in the light of the stars, It was so serene here, made me feel… at peace. That was until Enzo's voice pierced my ear drums.

"Kiera!" Enzo yelled from the tree about ten yards away, he made his way to me before speaking again, "How are you?" he finished.

"How am I?" I asked as he sat down besides me,

"That's what I asked wasn't it?" he replied while looking into the distance.

"I'm good…" I said confused, "Why the sudden interest in me?"

Enzo shrugged his shoulders a bit before turning around in the bench and peering at Koga and Mercie. They were under the tree talking. "I didn't want to third wheel, or…" he sighed, "Get in the way of that." he chuckled a bit.

"I'm good." I replied shifting in the bench to face him, "You?" We talked for a good amount of time.

Enzo has always stuck out to me, in terms of personalities, I don't know what it is, he's annoying, kind of brash, and very loud. It was all kind of charming to me, but I had no idea why.

After a bit of talking I could hear the crunch of leaves behind us, I turned to see a smiling Koga. "What's up?" he said with his usual upbeatness,

"Nothing much." Enzo replied as he looked from Koga to me. His eyes shot down to the ground. Koga and I looked at each other in confusion before Enzo shot up from his seat and turned to us, "I want to see you guys spar."

Once again Koga and I looked at each other in confusion, "Where'd this come from?" we said in unison.

"Well…" he continued, "I was thinking about how long it's been since I last saw you two go at it. Besides, look at all the space up here, you'll have plenty of room… come on." He finished his sentence by putting us in a trance with his big puppy dog eyes. We had no other option but to accept.


	4. Destiny's Influence

"Ya know…" Koga started as he pulled his sword out of its sheathe, "I really want to try this thing out. What do ya say Kiera?"

"Fine, I'm down." I answered with a bit of a smirk on my face. It really has been a while.

Back in fifth grade was when students started to spar each other, under supervision of the school at least, Koga and I were almost always at the top. Other than Mercie, we were the two most promising students in the class. To this day I've never beaten Koga, he's always had a certain knack for fighting. It's certainly been a while though and I'm confident I'm better than him now. All I do is train and get stronger, all I see him do is goof off. As we walked walked over to the open space on the ridge Mercie and Enzo stayed at the bench to watch.

"Best of three or only one?" Koga asked across from me, his hair blowing softly in the wind as he took off his hat to scratch his head.

"Only one." I answered with a serious look, "Try to make it interesting though, I'm not trying to win so easily."

Koga started to laugh, "You really are hilarious, you know that?" he retaliated in a confident tone.

As I manifested my keyblade, I watched as Koga pulled his sword from it's disappearing sheathe. He got into a new stance I haven't seen him use. It was still a low stance but, the sword was to his side and it's point was angled straight at me, his right hand took the top of the hilt and his left was positioned loosely behind it.

* * *

"Ready!?" I yelled towards Kiera, her tall stance unwavering.

"Always." was the cliche that escaped her lips. I could see the fire dance in her eyes.

Enzo stood up on the bench and raised his right hand high into the air. His hand was open and he started to count down from five with both his voice and fingers. Kiera and I glared at each other, both of us trying to predict the other's first move. Once Enzo reached three Mercie began to chime in.

"Three… two… one!" They both shouted as Kiera and I launched towards each other and clashed.

While we fought I was thinking heavily on my fighting style, when I said muscle memory was the most important thing earlier I was wrong. For this fight at least I'm trying something new. Master Rhine talked to me about defense, and after my spar with Enzo I realized that the way I fought was all about offense. With this new style I'm mixing my original with two handed attacks and blocks. I'm hoping that this can make my fighting more balanced with fast and heavy attacks, along with two handed blocks that make it harder for an opponent to penetrate.

The fight started to be one sided. Kiera uses a more dignified way of fighting. Long one handed strokes were what she relied on as her keyblade was pretty long. She is a more acrobatic fighter than I am so dodging my attacks didn't look very difficult for her, the problem was actually getting an attack in.

We launched forward again and met in the middle, both trying to break through each others block, "Blizzara!" Kiera shouted as her keyblade formed a blue aura.

Ice began to form on my sword, and it exploded into tiny shards causing me to be thrown back, "Well that's one way to use that…" I said under my breath as I got up, "Hey who said we could use magic!?" I yelled at her.

"We never talked about it so I just assumed." Kiera retorted with a smirk.

Now knowing we could use magic I rushed Kiera in order to get close, this would keep her from using her more devastating long range spells. As we fought up close I used faster one handed blade strokes to keep her from breaking the block like before, finally we entered a block and she pushed me back with a forceful aero. Kiera was very good with magic, much better than me, if it were purely a magic duel she would destroy me. Lucky for me it's not, I used this newfound distance and decided to use the only style of magic I was good with. With a swipe of my hand diagonally I let out a, "Thunder slash!" The spell fired pretty fast but not fast enough.

"Reflera!" Kiera let out loudly but calmly.

As my spell came back at me I slashed at it with my sword, just hoping it wouldn't hit me. To my surprise, and Kiera's as well, it completely dissipated, "What the hell?" I said quietly as I looked down at the blade. I began to notice something about the sword, I could see little bits of electricity coming off, barely noticeable but definitely there. I had a theory as to why and I was about to test it out. As Kiera began to ask me what happened i had already launched at her. We met for a few slashes, but ultimately I jumped overhead and came down on top of her block with two hands on the hilt. Slightly tilting the blade, so that the point was aimed at her, I cast a spell, "Thunder bullet!" Suddenly a shot of lightning came out the end of the blade and struck Kiera with a lot of force, knocking her to the ground. On my end the force from the spell caused me to turn slightly to the left before landing. As she started to push herself off the ground I put my sword under her chin. "I win this time."

Kiera pushed the sword away from under her chin. As she got up she dusted herself off and made her keyblade evaporate. "How'd you do that?" she asked demandingly, "Normal weapons shouldn't be able to use magic." She stood there looking at me with empty eyes. The fire was gone.

"Well… I'm not entirely sure but, I have a pretty good idea." I replied back as I approached her. She looked at me, obviously telling me to go on, "When I slashed back at my own magic, I'm pretty confident that I absorbed it. The magic I absorbed covered the blade and got held inside of it. It was hard to see but it was there..." I paused, the silence she was treating me with opted for me to move forward with the rest of the explanation, "I figured the magic held inside could be used again, but out of the blade, so I tested it." Satisfied with the answer but frustrated at the result of the battle, she nodded, turned, and walked away towards the edge of the ridge, eventually sitting down. As I walked over to try and talk to her a hand was placed on my shoulder,

"I'll talk to her." It was Mercie.

"O-okay…" I replied with a stutter. As Mercie walked over to Kiera, I made my way to the bench Enzo was at and sat down.

"That was amazing!" Enzo said to me.

"Yeah it was, this sword is awesome! But…" I trailed off.

"Hey…" Enzo crossed his arms while he sat, "Mercie's got it. She's good at talking to people, Kiera will be fine." He finished with his gaze up at the stars.

"Yeah I guess so…"

Enzo turned to me, "I wanted to ask you something I forgot to ask earlier."

"What is it?" I asked.

"That guy, who attacked you and Master Rhine… What'd he look like?"

I readjusted my position on the bench, "Honestly I don't remember… he was tall I know that." Enzo looked at me kinda disappointed, "I do remember a few other things though." I looked up from the ground to the stars and finished, "His voice. It was dark, grizzly, even evil…" I paused, "His presence though, it made me feel something worse than fear."

Enzo looked my way and spoke, "Dread?"

That's exactly the word I was looking for.

* * *

I looked up at the stars, thinking about the fight I just participated in and loss. I wasn't that frustrated with it, but I had questions I wanted answers to. Like, why does Koga always win? Why does all my training result in nothing compared to him? Why is he stronger than I am? All of these questions were ones that I couldn't formulate answers to. Lost in thought, and the bright lights of the other worlds, I eventually turned to see Mercie sitting next to me. I jumped a bit when I first saw her. She was also looking up at the stars, lost in thought.

"They say they're all worlds."

"What are?" I asked caught off guard by the statement.

"The stars." She answered in a light tone.

"Oh… yeah they do."

As I stared back up to the lights in the sky she spoke again, "I wonder where he is…"

"Where who is?" I asked inquisitively.

"Your father." she answered. As I went to ask her how she knew about him she cut me off, "Koga told me."

"Of course he did… I knew that little jerk couldn't keep things to himself."

"Ya know…" she started, "You shouldn't beat yourself up over losing."

I glared at her a little but eventually lightened up, she had such a kind face and approach to things. I don't think anyone could get mad at her. "Why is that?" I asked calmly.

"Koga…" she trailed off, "He has something that we might not have." She picked up, "A destiny."

I looked at her confused, "Don't we all have destinies?"

"Well, yes. But Koga's is one that requires him to be strong, one that might push him to the brink if he's not careful." She looked to me, then back to the stars, "No matter how hard anyone trains, no matter the limits they push themselves to… Koga will always come out on top. Because that is his destiny, it's who he is meant to be."

I wanted to ask how she knew this but, the confidence in her voice made me believe her. I don't know what is was about her, but I knew she was right. "Well maybe I shouldn't try to be stronger anymore…"

Mercie looked at me with a smile, "Never stop. I can tell you are meant to be something great as well, I can see it in your eyes."

I smiled her way then turned my gaze back up to the stars. As I stared into the night, and felt the wind blow softly on my skin, a question I had earlier returned to my head. "Hey Mercie?"

"What is it?" she replied looking into the distance, using her hand to move her silver hair behind her ear.

"I have a question."

"Fire away." She said, turning towards me.

I laid back and used my interlocked hands as a pillow, "Back in elementary, and most of middle school, you were the top prospect… what happened?" Thinking about the question more deeply I realised it was a bit rude, "I mean not to say you aren't strong still, that's not what I-"

"It's fine." She chuckled a bit. She looked up, "In about… I don't know, seventh grade maybe? I came here, to the ridge, by myself." She paused for a second, angling her head up to feel the wind on her face, "I don't quite remember why, but I remember I hurt myself pretty badly and a Master came to my rescue." She sat up straight and brought her hands to her lap, fiddling her thumbs she finished, "Ever since then I haven't been able to fight, physically… or emotionally."

Mercie's eyes stayed down on her lap, I could tell she didn't like to talk about it. "Well…" I continued, "You are always welcome to come train with me if you'd like. Maybe I could break you out of that shell."

Mercie looked up to me and smiled, her striking blue eyes were trustworthy. "I might take you up on that offer." She laughed a bit then looked back to the boys. They were currently testing out Koga's sword, "How about we go set up the picnic I packed?" My eyes shot up, I was still hungry even after that burger earlier. I agreed excitedly and we made our way to her bag.

As we set up the blanket and started to pull out the food I could smell something coming from a container, "This smells amazing!" I said as I pulled the container out with joy.

"I'm glad you think so. That's my mom's 'secret sauce' as she would call it." Mercie bent down as I handed her the container, she opened it and placed it near the sandwich items. "Come get it boys!" she said happily. Koga and Enzo turned around instantly and began to run over.

We all made our sandwiches and started to dig in, "Mercie you are the best!" Koga exclaimed as he chewed.

"Mhmm!" Enzo let out with a full mouth.

"Chew first, talk second." I said to them with obvious disgust.

Mercie just laughed, "Enjoy yourselves guys."

The night carried on and we were all stuffed with Mercie's picnic. All of us layed on the picnic blanket and looked up at the stars. The stars, we had all looked at them so much tonight you'd think we'd no longer be amazed but, every time I looked at them I saw something new. I could tell the others felt the same. Eventually we all dozed off to the sight of hope.


	5. The Dark Void That Is My Dreams

**This is gonna be another short chapter due to the events of next chapter that I want to flush out. Next chapter should be the longest I've written so far. Enjoy this small one, and I hope you come back for the long one.**

* * *

I opened my eyes to darkness. As I pushed myself up from the ground I could feel a breeze blowing. Moving my hair out of my face I looked around. There was no ground, no sky, and nothing in the distance. There was nothing, it was pitch black yet… I could see myself clearly.

"The most promising young pupil, and he can't even summon a Keyblade. It's funny really… now you've been shoved to the back of everyone's mind as a failure. Does it bother you?" A voice that I recognized said. "You wanna play hmm? I thought this would be more interesting."

All his words played over and over in this empty space, I couldn't tell if this was real… or fake. Dread overcame my mind and body, my head began to spin and my stomach churn. I felt a sharp pain in my side and dropped to my knees. I emptied myself out, coughing as I finished. The wind had stopped, everything was completely motionless.

"Was I successful?" It was a question that echoed around, along with, "Do you have it?"

Suddenly my Keyblade appeared in my hand. I hadn't looked at it since I'd gotten it. A bright white weapon, its two prongs the same as before.

"The light in the darkness Koga." A female voice said this time, "It will purify the evil."

I looked around for the woman to no avail. Her voice felt so familiar and comforting, "Where are you!?" I yelled back to the voice. After a few looks around I looked up, a white keyhole had formed in the sky. My Keyblade forced my hand up. A white light started to form at the end of the blade before shooting up. The black space that had enveloped me now turned white, the breeze returned, along with a pleasant smell. I felt an overwhelming sense of exhaustion and fell to the ground.

I awoke on the ridge where I had fallen asleep. I was once again drenched in sweat, just like this morning. I looked around to see my friends still asleep. What was that dream? I looked at my hand and summoned my keyblade. Its pure white length just as bright as in the dream. I studied it for awhile before making it dissipate. I got up and looked around the grass covered flat, the bright flowers mixed in were beautiful. Besides the pine trees, which weren't found inside of the complex, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I checked my watch to see that it was four in the morning, we should head back before anyone wakes up. I went over to Enzo and shook him awake,

"Wh-what?" He let out, tiredly picking himself up.

"It's four o'clock, we should head back before anyone wakes up." I answered, offering him my hand to help him up. As we woke Mercie and Kiera up I felt the same feeling in my stomach from my dream, just to a lesser extent.

"Are you okay?" Kiera questioned me, "You look really pale."

"I'm fine, my stomach just hurts a little is all." I smiled back while rubbing it. Kiera accepted the answer and we were on our way down the hill. The winding dirt trail, that contained our old footsteps from the journey up, was used once again. While I walked down the hill side by side with Mercie I noticed the wind was no longer blowing. I felt the same motionlessness as I had in the dream, "This is so weird." I said to myself as I stopped in my tracks.

"Is everything okay with you?" Mercie asked, worry plagued her face.

"Yeah, yeah… I just had a weird dream on the ridge." I responded, trying to reassure her. Something escaped her lips in response but, I couldn't quite catch it.

* * *

"Already?" I heard come from Mercie quietly behind me, It sounded as if she were talking to herself. I turned my head back to see Mercie and Koga talking.

"Are they dating?" Kiera asked me.

"I have no clue…" I answered with a laugh, "They've always had this unspoken thing. I don't really get it."

"She's very pretty, no wonder Koga likes her." Kiera said looking down the path. Her brown hair blowing behind her. She didn't have her hair up anymore, her hair tie must've fallen out while sleeping. I wasn't going to tell her, I liked the sight.

"I mean… yeah she's pretty. But you are pretty bangin yourself."

Kiera looked at me, a mix of embarrassment and disappointment on her face.

"I-I mean,you are beautiful!" I said loudly trying to take back my comment. I heard laughing from behind me shortly after, "Shut it would you!?" I turned my head and shouted at Koga.

"You are so damn smooth En." Koga got out, still laughing uncontrollably.

I looked back to Kiera and could tell her face had a tinge of redness to it. "Hey Kiera, what do you say we go on a date soon or something?" I asked, turning my face back to Koga with a devilish smile.

"Sure." She replied.

I didn't think she'd actually say yes, what do I say back? Lost as in what to say I just looked at her for a bit. She was dignified, stood up straight, and had confidence in every step. The complete opposite of me.

The rest of the walk carried an awkward silence between Kiera and I. While Mercie and Koga chatted it up in the back, I couldn't formulate a single thing to say to Kiera after what had just transpired. "So… do you like the arcade?" I asked Kiera

Once again I heard laughing escape Koga's mouth from behind me, "Do you like the arcade?" He mocked me.

"Shut up Koga!"

"I've never been." Kiera said calmly, ignoring Koga. This calmness seemed a bit forced, could she be… happy?

"Really!?" I said surprised, "They have better food in that part of the complex than even the cafeteria."

"You mean junk food?" Koga once again interrupted.

"Will you butt out before I knock your teeth down your throat!?" I yelled back, waving my fist at him. Koga finally shut up and let me operate.

Kiera and I continued to make plans until we returned to the back door of the complex. I opened the doors, once again ignoring Kiera's warnings, and we all split up at the sound of the alarm. The loud footsteps on the wooden floor combined with the blaring alarm made the rush to our dorms even louder. Still, no one came after us. Once I reached my door, I entered my room and flat out crashed on my bed. "Best day ever…" I said yawning. It didn't take long to fall asleep.

* * *

"Will you come to my room with me once we get back?" Was the question Mercie asked me halfway down the hill. The agreement rang true as we hustled to her room under the sound of the alarm system. Once we entered her room I was overcome with exhaustion.

"Tired?" she asked before I yawned, "Me too."

"Why'd you ask me to come here?"

"To nap with me of course." She responded as she undressed into her underwear.

My face became hot as I looked away, I'd never seen a girl in her underwear.

"You can look." she chuckled.

I looked back, fully taking the sight in. She was slim, and had skin that was on the pale side. Her black underwear were in complete contrast to her skin, silver hair, and bright eyes. Mercie turned towards her bed and yet out a yawn before laying down. "Are you going to join me or not?"

I approached her bed and sat on the edge. Taking off my shoes and hat, I got behind her and put my arm around her. We layed like this for awhile. I felt so safe with her, like nothing could go wrong, I don't know what it was. The warmness of her body? The smell of her shoulder length hair? After a few minutes of silence Mercie turned around and put her hand on my face.

"I love you." Was what left her lips as she slid her hand down to my side. As I went to reply I felt a sharp pain in my side, and my vision was engulfed in black.

* * *

Shivers went down my spine as I closed my door. Why did I feel as though something bad had happened? I had a great day today, Enzo even asked me on a date. So why? As I pondered the question I took off my clothes and began to lay down. While on my back I put my hand up and summoned my Keyblade. I didn't know how to explain it, It was a dark purple blade with a black handle. It's guard was mainly silver, aside from the bottom which was a weird saturated purple. The bottom of the chain had a blue sphere, which reminded me of a raindrop. "Rainfell" is the name my Master sensed from it.

As I stared at the weapon, something Mercie had said popped into my head, "I can tell you are meant to be something great... "

"Something great…" I whispered to myself before dispelling the Keyblade. I rolled over and closed my eyes, the bad feeling finally subsiding.


	6. The Keyblade Graveyard and The Search

Once again I woke up. This was the second time I had woken up from immense pain. The dream I had and the reality I faced started to blend together. The pain in my side and stomach were still there. Had they ever left? I puked again, but this time for real. Once I was done retching I stood and looked around. Hundreds, no… thousands of Keyblades were stuck into the desert wasteland I currently presided in. "Where am I?" I asked out loud, dust being swept up by the wind landed on my face. Once I finished rubbing my eyes I looked down to see my sword, I bent down and picked it up. Once I was standing again I looked forward to see a man. He was tall, had long black hair, and wore a black cloak. "Who are you? Where am I?" I said loudly.

"My, my, so many questions Koga." The man said.

I recognized the dark voice, and his evil presence. "You're the man that hurt my Master, aren't you!?" I yelled at him, anger prominent in my voice.

"They were in my way. What else was I supposed to do?" He said calmly.

I could feel rage overcome my body as I drew my sword, "You'll pay for that!" I shouted as I ran forward with my sword to my side. I thrusted my sword forward, towards his neck, only for it to be deflected by his Keyblade. I felt a hand push into my chest. I flew back a few yards and landed on my back.

"Don't be so hasty. You'll have your chance." He said, "I want to explain a few things to you."

I started to get up, looking his way in the process.

He began to summon two heartless, Neoshadow class. "Heartless, or Anti for short, do you know what they are?"

"Creatures of the darkness, born from people's hearts." I answered as I got up.

"Good…" He continued, "Then you should know that the 'Pureblood' Anti are found in the Realm of Darkness."

"Yes." I said, unsure of where he was going with this.

"We live in the Realm of Light, you must know that."

"Yeah. It's where all the worlds reside, your point?" I replied, still confused.

"When someone of pure darkness clashes with someone of pure light, something amazing happens. Did you know that?" He seemingly ignored my question.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Of course they wouldn't tell you. They wouldn't want another person to go looking for it would they?" He brought up both hands in front of him, "When pure darkness comes together…" He brought his left up a bit more, "with pure light…" He raised his right to the same level as the other, "They form the X-Blade." He clasped both his hands together.

"A Keyblade."

"No. The X-Blade. 'Key' in this instance is replaced with the ancient letter of death." He brought his hands down and summoned his Keyblade. "This weapon can unlock the Door to Darkness and bring this realm into it's order." He held his Keyblade in front of him, the black blade of ferocity I had come to both hate, and fear. "You are my pure light Koga, and I am the pure Darkness. Together we will remake all the worlds into one, that of darkness and order."

"You're a crazy old man." I said as I stood tall, mustering up all my courage and confidence.

He laughed, it seemed like pure joy coming from him. "You're feisty, perfect." He forced the end of his Keyblade into the ground and spoke again, "This realm, these worlds… are full of corruption, evil, and chaos. Starving people, families being torn apart by war, poverty. You don't see it in your perfect life at the complex, but I have. I know it too well." He brought his hand up over his head and a dark ball formed. The orb shot up and dispersed over the old battlefield. "The Realm of Darkness sounds menacing, but trust me it's not. It's the order this realm lacks, and needs." He placed his right hand on the handle of his Keyblade and pulled it out from the ground. "Now's your chance. Let's see it."

"See what?" I said smirking.

"Your Keyblade."

"Well judging from your story, and your weird obsession with darkness, it sounds like that's exactly what you want. So… I think I'll refrain." I said, being smug to hide my fear.

"You're a smart one… then I'll have to force it out!" He began to run forward and attack me. The fear he caused went to the back of my mind as adrenaline kicked in. I blocked his attack, this time my weapon won't break. "That's no ordinary sword is it?" He said surprised as my sword didn't shatter.

"No it's not." I said as I pushed him away, "It's the weapon I'm gonna beat you with."

He laughed, "You're too funny, the only chance at beating me you'd have is using your keyblade." We met once again, this time I was all in. I could see the veins on my arms, I could feel my blood rushing, and my body heating up. We couldn't touch each other at all, we either dodged or block. Attack after attack after attack. I was becoming drenched in sweat yet… he looked calm as ever. "You're skilled in fighting no doubt, but do you possess the power to actually harm me?" He said loudly over the sound of our blades clashing.

I gave him no answer. I was going to prove to him I was. As my flurry of physical attacks continued I realised I was getting nowhere. Eventually I decided to try out the magical aspect of my sword. "Thundaga!" I let out calmly, I brushed my hand across the side of the sword as I cast the spell. The sword was covered in electricity, and it was much more noticeable with the stronger spell. The man looked my way, his calm, yet serious, posture unchanging. I once again rushed him with a sword attack, once our weapons met I pushed his back a good amount before he dodged backwards. Just the presence of the spell in my blade made attacks stronger. This is exactly the extra power I needed to beat him. As I rushed him again he blocked just like last time, but I didn't push his weapon back even a little this time. We were even once again. "So, you weren't going full strength on me earlier then?" I asked. He must have been holding back.

"Full strength?" He repeated before breaking up into laughter, "Is that what you want?" I nodded my head. "Very well then, you'll finally be forced to use the power of your Keyblade."

"We'll see about that." I responded cockily. Launching towards him once more, the wind drying the sweat from my face. Once I reached him I swung diagonally, only for him to no longer be there. "Where'd he g-" I was cut off by a heavy pain in the middle of my back. I stood, turned, and swung at him again only for the same thing to happen. This went on for a bit longer before finally my keyblade appeared on it's own, spinning me around, and blocking his strike.

"Finally it's out. It can't sit dormant while it's wielder is getting killed." The man said in his usual tone. "Now fight me with your full power!" He disappeared once again but, this time I felt like I knew where he'd end up. I swung around to my right and met his Keyblade with my sword, using my Keyblade in my left to thrust at him. "Just like your mother's that Keyblade is both a beauty and a nuisance." He said as he appeared far behind me, "Let's see how long that clairvoyance of yours will hold up!"

Clairvoyance? What is that? I thought about it all while doing battle with him. He would pop out of mini black portals all around me and I could accurately predict where he would be each time, countering with perfect timing. This feeling must be what my Keyblades ability is. The battle carried on in this stalemate for a while before the man appeared a couple hundred feet in front of me. His lazy posture changed as he got down low and positioned his Keyblade in front of him, pointing at me.

"Zantetsuken!" He yelled before seemingly disappearing. He landed behind me as a sharp pain entered all of my body. "Sadly that Keyblade of yours can't help you predict things you haven't seen before. Otherwise it'd be the ultimate ability." He bent down over me as I struggled to get up, "We will fight only once more after this. If you are not strong enough then, I'll kill you and wait for your kin or reincarnation. I have forever." As he finished he put his hand on the arm that I held my Keyblade in. Black chains formed around my arm and tightened. My grip on my Keyblade loosened and it disappeared. "Seek out the man that can break this spell, he'll train you to be strong enough for me. Tell him my name… Annix." He got up and began to walk away, I grabbed his ankle with the last bit of strength I had. He kicked it away. Suddenly a portal of darkness formed to his right. A girl with silver hair stepped out. "Stop him from dying, he'll heal on his own." The girl nodded and made her way over to me.

"Mercie?' I said in confusion, it was definitely her. She put her finger to her lips to tell me to stay quiet.

She got on her knees besides me and bent over, kissing me. Something entered my mouth and stayed. "Cure." She let out, trying to hold back tears.

"That's enough Mercie. Let's go." Annix said as he walked through the portal. Mercie got up, and followed him through. My vision became black once more.

I opened my eyes to a brown, wooden roof, made of logs. "Why am I always falling asleep or getting knocked out?" I asked myself as I began to sit up. Yelping in pain and falling back on the bed I heard a door open.

"Oh my, you're awake already?" A voice said. I turned my head to see a short old man hunched over on his walking stick.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I have the same question for you. I find it very odd to find a hurt boy all by himself in the Keyblade Graveyard."

"Keyblade Graveyard?" I muttered.

The old man came over to the bed I was on from the counter in the kitchen, "Drink up." He said as he handed me a cup of water. I took the water, hesitated for a second, but eventually drank it. "So how about you answer my questions first… and then I'll answer yours."

"I'm Koga. I was fighting a man named Annix here." I responded.

"Annix…" He paused for a bit, "I haven't heard that name in a long time."

"You know him?"

"Yes. We grew up together." He replied while looking out the window.

"No way… I mean your so-"

"Old, I know." He cut me off, "Annix sadly fell to the influence of the darkness, he's used that connection to keep him from aging."

"So what is this Keyblade Graveyard, and who are you." I asked, completely surprised by who I was talking to. I needed to know more about this place and Annix if I was going to beat him.

"I am known as Shinama, you can call me Shin. As for the Keyblade Graveyard, it is a place where a war raged long ago. I along with so many others participated." Shin looked down at me, "Anymore questions?"

"Actually I have a ton but, I'll spare you for now." I said finishing in a long exhale.

"Ya know, there was a piece of paper in your mouth when I found you. I didn't think you'd be eating paper so I set it over on the table to dry." The old man went over to the table in his kitchen and picked up a small, folded, piece of paper. He handed it to me, "I'll leave you to read it, I have to go water my plants." As Shin left the small house I opened up the note to read it.

 _Dear Koga,_

 _I know you are probably confused, and feel betrayed. You should feel that way, after all I did exactly that… betray you. When we were in seventh grade, I went to the ridge by myself. I still don't remember why, but something led me up there. I sat on the edge of the cliff and the part I was positioned on broke off. Annix found me and somehow revived me. I can not go against his will, he controls me. I'm sorry you had to find out like this._

 _Love, Mercie_

I fell back on the bed, this was a lot to take in. Mercie didn't do this of her own will, so is the relationship we formed real? Or was it just part of Annix's plan? I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, taking in the scent of the household. I layed like this for a while, my body ached but the pain was gone. I decided to get up, I can't just sit here while Mercie is being controlled by Annix. I have to get back to the complex and make sure everyone else is okay. Then I'll go after him in order to save Mercie. I got on my feet and made my way to the door. I opened the door to the sight of green grass and a big garden, "Woah…"

"You're up and walking huh?" Shin said while watering his plants.

"How is everything here so green in this… wasteland." I said amazed.

"I'll let you in on that little secret if you help me water everything." He replies moving on to the next patch of plants.

"Sure, just point me to where." I helped Shin water most of his plants with that question still in my head. I was completely baffled as to how he managed to grow here. There was about an acre or two of the greenest grass and freshest plants I'd ever laid eyes on. The rest was miles of deserted dead land, and high cliffs. "So…" I started, "Can you answer my question now?"

"Have some patience, I need to wash my hands. So do you." He said on his way into the house.

I followed behind closely, washing my hands with him once we approached the sink. The house was small, it was all one room. The kitchen had it's own designated area but, the living room area and the bedroom were basically one in the same. "Did you build this house?" I asked, looking around the place. Pictures all along the walls, as well as nice fireplace in the living room portion.

"Yes." He replied while drying his hands, "Obviously it was in my much younger years but, it was all built by my hands." He finished looking out the long, rectangular, window above the kitchen sink. "So, do you still want an answer to your earlier question?"

"Well, yeah." I said with a nod.

"Very well then." Shin said as he walked over to his pantry. He pulled out a bright red apple and made his way to the table. He sat down and motioned for me to follow. "Now watch." He took a bite of the apple, it's juices spilling out. He then held the apple in his hand as it began to turn black, wrinkle, and shrink. I stared in confusion at the apple as it began to un-shrink and turn back to its former bright red state, with no bite taken out. I was astonished, no words could escape my mouth. "You want to know how I did it?" Shin asked me as he set the apple down. I nodded my head enthusiastically. "Everyone has an ability stored in there Keyblade." I nodded, I already knew that. "Some have Keyblades that have a giant reserve of magic, some have an ability where their reserve of magic generates very fast." He paused as he bit into the apple, as juicy as before. "There are hundreds more out there that have nothing to do with magic, some even prevent the user from dying by a fatal blow… these abilities are very special and rare." He set the apple down and brought forth his Keyblade. Blue, white, and gold were it's primary colors but there were hints of others here and there. "Stroke of Midnight is what it's called." He set the weapon down on the table, "It's special ability is to turn back, and advance time."

"That's amazing…" I said quietly, admiring it's castle like design.

"It comes in handy for what I use it for. This land used to be luscious and beautiful. It held a complex, probably similar to the one you're from." He said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"You came from a complex too?"

"Most Keyblade wielders come from one. I don't know how many there are now, but it used to seem like there was one on every world." He said dispelling his Keyblade.

"Do you know how I could get back to mine?" I asked excitedly.

"Probably, all I'd have to do is conjure up a portal and you're back." He answered.

"Great! Can you make me one now?" I said, happy at the thought of getting back to Enzo and Kiera.

"I will make one once you are fully healed and ready to go back." He said, "I don't think either of us are capable of healing magic, so you'll have to do it naturally."

"Couldn't you just turn back time on my injuries?" I asked him desperately.

"My ability sadly doesn't work well on living things with strong life force. Small animals sure but, not humans."

"You said work 'well'. Have you tried it before?" I said intrigued. His eyes before were calm and content. Now, they seemed sad. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that. Hey, since I'm here maybe you could show me a few things. I noticed you could use your Keyblade's ability without using the Keyblade itself, could you teach me?"

Shin's stare had changed back to normal, "It's not an easy thing to do Koga, I doubt I could teach you in the few days you are here." I looked down a bit, something like that could really help me in the fight against Annix. Shin had taken notice, "Normally I wouldn't even attempt to teach you but, since Annix is involved… I'll give it a try." I looked up to see Shin getting out of his chair and making his way over to the single door in the house, "Well, are you coming?"

* * *

I jerked up, sweat all over my body. "I must have had a bad dream…" I muttered out loud as I crawled out of bed. Why did I feel so weird this morning? I felt the same feeling as last night, but not something bad was 'going' to happen, it already had. I stretched and yawned before walking to my closet. I picked out a loose white t-shirt and some tight jeans, as well as the other essentials. Once I had my clothes folded up I left my room and carried them to the showers. On my way to the showers the feeling never left me, I still felt uneasy and on edge. I arrived at the showers and walked in. I set my change of clothes in one of the designated slots and stripped down. I looked down the rows of stalls once more to see if anyone was showering, I came early because I didn't like being naked in front of others. As I stepped into a stall and turned the water on I felt another chill go down my back, same as last night. What the hell is going on? I thought about the answer all throughout my shower. I finished, dried off, and got changed. I decided to go check on my newfound friends to see if they were okay once I put my worn clothes back in my room, I couldn't shake this feeling.

"Who is it?" Enzo let out loudly after I had knocked for the fiftieth time,

"It's Kiera." I answered.

I began to hear things falling from inside Enzo's room, along with a loud scramble to the door. "Hello there!" He said excitedly, all the while wedging himself in the door so I couldn't see in. "What brings you here this fine morning?"

"I'm worried about Koga. I knocked on his door a bunch and there was no answer." I said sternly.

"He's probably in Mercie's dorm, what's the fuss about?"

"Where is Mercie's room, I want to check." I replied, the same seriousness.

Enzo scratched his head and moved his dark brown hair out of his face, "I'll take you there, give me a second…" He trailed off as he closed his door. After what seemed like only a few seconds he was out the door fully dressed, "Follow me, m'lady." He said happily. As we walked to Mercie's room he asked me a question, "So what's got you so worried anyways?"

'I've had this bad feeling since last night. I wanted to check on you guys to see if you're okay." I said.

"Okay then…" Enzo trailed off. We got to Mercie's door and Enzo knocked about ten times, "Hello?" he said loudly as he knocked. Finally he went to turn the handle, "Locked, of course…" Enzo knocked a few more times before giving up, "I'll just call Koga, he usually picks up in a few seconds." Enzo brought out his phone and started to call. With the phone up to his ear his expression changed, to that of a blank face. "It goes straight to voicemail… here I'll try Mercie's." After a few seconds, he put his phone down. "I have a key to Koga's, we'll just go check his room."

"Why do you have a key to his room exactly?" I asked with my eyebrows scrunched.

"He always loses his key, so he gave me a spare."

"Okay then, let's go." I said in response, as he began to walk off towards Koga's room. I had noticed a change in him. I could tell he was beginning to worry as well, no one in the complex just 'disappears' something was wrong here. First we stopped at Enzo's to pick up his key, and then we were on our way to Koga's room. The walk was silent, Enzo had become very serious, it was a whole new side to him I had never seen. We approached the door to our friends dorm and Enzo took out his key, as the door opened we were welcomed to… no one. Koga wasn't inside, and the note I had left last night was still on his bed.

"What's this?" Enzo asked as he picked up the note, "I suppose you left this last night?"

"Yes."

"It's no clue then." He said while putting the note back.

"Everything looks exactly as I left it last night." I said.

Enzo looked lost, "There's no point in checking Mercie's room, they would have woken up if they were in there." Enzo looked at me, a mixture of confusion and fear in his eyes, "Where could they have gone? I doubt they would be up at this time, and why are their phones going straight to voicemail?"

I decided to reassure Enzo, "I'm sure we are freaking out for no reason, let's just look around the complex for them." Enzo agreed and we left Koga's room. As we walked around the hardwood floors of the complex, I was sure that Koga and Mercie would be nowhere to find. I wouldn't have this feeling in my gut if they were just fine. Disregarding my hunch, we searched for a couple hours. We even asked everyone we saw if they had seen them, they all answered the same 'no'. Where could they be if not in the complex? Wait… could Koga have left with Mercie through a portal of light? Why would he though? "Enzo."

"What Kiera?" He responded.

"Koga was given a book on forming Portals of Light. Could he have left through one with Mercie?" I asked.

"I don't think he's capable. He isn't exactly... great, with magic." He said, "Besides, if he's not here he's probably on the ridge. We haven't checked there yet." Enzo finished and walked past me in the opposite direction.

I grabbed his arm, "I know you're scared Enzo." I looked up at him, and stared into his eyes, "But I have this hunch that neither Koga, or Mercie, are on this world anymore."

Enzo looked down, "Then how are we supposed to find them?" He was obviously thinking deeply about what I had said. "How are we supposed to leave?" He wanted the answer, he wanted to find his friend.

"The same way they did. I read Koga's book already, I was planning on leaving with him."

"So can you do it? Make a portal?" He asked quickly, his hope had partially returned.

"Yes."

"Then let's go!" Enzo said, eager to get to Koga.

"It's not that easy Enzo." I said, "We have no idea where they are."

Enzo turned and punched the wall, "Fuck!" He laid his head against the wall, "Then what are we supposed to do…" He was defeated.

I stood there for a second, thinking hard about a way to find them. "Wait…" I muttered.

"What is it Kiera?"

"When you open a portal it doesn't open on the other side until someone steps through. You are supposed to think of a location, and it will take you there." I said.

"Your point?" Enzo said.

"What if we thought about a person?"

Enzo stared at me for awhile, "Let's do it then."

"Hold on." I replied, "We shouldn't jump the gun. Let's wait a few days and then go."

"Are you crazy! What if Koga and Mercie are out there in trouble?" He questioned.

He was right. That could be a possibility, especially since this feeling still hadn't left. "I'm worried too, but we shouldn't rush into things. Let's give it a day or two and then decide on if we should leave." Enzo looked out the window behind me, "Fine..."

"Hey..." I was thinking of something to distract him, "Still down for the Arcade?"

* * *

Shin lead me out of his garden, and a few hundred feet from his home. "Why are we going this far out?" I asked him.

"I don't want you damaging my property in this training."

"It's that damaging?" I said.

"It's different for everyone, so I'm not sure." He turned around and looked at me, "What's your Keyblades name?"

"Uh… I'm not exactly sure." I answered.

"What!?" He yelled. "How has a Master not told you your Keyblade's name?"

"Hey! I just recently got my Keyblade, it's not my fault!" I blasted back at him.

"Fine then, summon your Keyblade and I'll tell you." Shin said.

I put my hand in front of me and attempted to summon my Keyblade, 'attempted' is the key word. "Why won't it appear!?" I asked loudly.

"Odd..." Shin said aloud. He walked over to me and put his hand on my arm, "It's been locked off."

"What do you mean locked off?" Shin stared intently at my arm before grabbing it with force, "Hey what's the big deal!?" I let out as black chains wrapped around my arm.

"Annix and I had a friend. Her name was Tyra." He responded.

"Tyra…"

"She had a very special kind of magic, completely separate from her Keyblades ability." He continued as his magic flowed into me, "She could block, under her own magic, people from using their Keyblade. It seems Annix… has copied this magic with power from the darkness." As his magic flowed into me, the chains began to break. Finally the chains burst, and my Keyblade came into view. He stared at my Keyblade, "You're Tyra's boy aren't you. No wonder…"


End file.
